


together at the start of time

by destiny919



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Pre-Kerberos Mission, THAT'S how tooth-rotting, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, you wanna know just how tooth-rotting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 05:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12646956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destiny919/pseuds/destiny919
Summary: He was extra glad today that Keith was the one who drove them out into the desert, that it was Shiro's arms around his waist instead of vice-versa, because otherwise Keith may have felt the little black velvet box nestled in his jacket.





	together at the start of time

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone familiar with the deeper parts of my works page will know what song this title is from and how I know it. And to those readers I say, don't fucking @ me.

It's late afternoon out in the desert. They'd had to wait until Keith's classes were done for the day before going off on one of their jaunts into the land outside the Garrison compound. It was one of their favorite pastimes- and, since getting together, their nearest equivalent to going on a regular date- but Shiro had something special in mind for today. 

It was in his pocket. 

He was extra glad today that Keith was the one who drove them out into the desert, that it was Shiro's arms around his waist instead of vice-versa, because otherwise Keith may have felt the little black velvet box nestled in his jacket. 

Shiro knows it's crazy. God, does he know. But a month ago he saw the ring in a shop window during one of his rare trips away from the Garrison, into the proper city of Tucson. And he couldn't resist. He'd already been able to vividly imagine how perfect the plain (simple but beautiful, just what Keith would want) white-gold band would look on Keith's strong yet slender finger. 

He's spent the past month since buying it locked in a constant battle with himself- between what his head insists and his heart is pleading for. 

His heart won, the way it always does with Keith.

They're so young- both of them, but God, at least Shiro is in his twenties, Keith isn't even 19- and he's leaving for Kerberos in two weeks, and he'll be gone for four months. But that's just spurring him on. Their youth gives him the chance to spend as much of his life by Keith's side as possible, and his impending absence just makes it imperative that he give Keith something solid, more tangible than just Shiro's promises, to hold onto while he's gone. And for himself, while he's 7.5 billion kilometers away on a frozen moon, Shiro wants to be able to think of Keith back on Earth and know he has this ring on his finger, protecting and claiming him while its giver is away. 

Keith will wear it under his gloves- will have to, since their relationship is still a secret except from a select few, and from anyone more observant than the average Garrison commander- but Shiro will know it's there. Keith will know it's there, will be able to take off his glove when he's alone and look at it and remember Shiro loves him. 

Shiro's quite jealous of that, actually. 

And this is all assuming, of course, that Keith is as crazy as Shiro and says yes. 

He's never before placed so much hope in Keith's bad habits of impulsivity and letting his emotions overcome his better judgment. 

Y'know, like he might think Shiro is doing right now. Except he's not, he knows he's not. He and Keith are forever, and he just wants to make that official as soon as possible. 

So here they are, parking Keith's red hoverbike on top of their favorite bluff, the one where, on a clear day, they can see all the way across the desert, towards the edges of the Garrison compound in the distance. 

They both prefer it when the afternoons are a little hazy, with heat or dust, and they can pretend the Garrison is further away, or it doesn't exist, and it's just the two of them. 

Today is a hazy day. 

Keith climbs off his bike and stretches his arms ostentatiously, making his tshirt rise up under his cropped jacket and reveal a generous section of perfect pale skin. Shiro swallows, and gets off the bike himself. 

"Alright," Keith says lazily, "you wanna tell me why you were so eager to get off campus today?" As if he doesn't feel like that himself  _ every _ day. 

He turns around to hear Shiro's response, and sees him drop to one knee in the dirt. Keith's mouth drops open. 

"Keith," Shiro begins, "baby, I love you so much. I know we're- you're- really, really young, but that just means I get to spend even more of my life with you. You're everything to me. I thought I knew what I was doing, where I was going, before I met you, but then you showed me that I had just been stumbling around blind. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, and I can only hope you feel that way too." He takes a deep breath, feeling his heart beating like thunder after heat lighting, and opens the little box in his hands. "Keith, will you marry me?"

Silence. Keith has his hands over his mouth. They're shaking, and his eyes are wide. 

Shiro panics. "I know I'm about to leave, but that just made me even more sure that I wanted us to make this commitment before I left. No matter what you answer now, Keith, I'll never leave you, I'm yours forever, and I-"

And he keeps rambling, more desperate than he's ever been in his life, when he's suddenly stopped by Keith's fingers pressed to his lips. 

The fingers of his left hand.

Shiro looks up and sees his eyes are full of tears.

"Put the ring on my finger, Takashi," Keith says shakily. 

He doesn't need telling twice. He snatches up the hand in front of his face and all but rips off Keith's glove so he can slide the white-gold band onto his third finger. "A perfect fit," Shiro murmurs, shocked. He thought they'd at least have to get it sized before he left- in all his fantasies in which Keith said yes to his crazy proposal. He swallows, and looks up again. "You mean it?" he whispers. 

Keith nods frantically. "Yes. Yes, of course. I'll marry you."

"Oh," he chokes out, before surging up and scooping Keith into his arms. Shiro presses his  _ fiance _ tight to his chest, and he's so much taller that Keith's feet leave the ground entirely. But he'll never drop him. 

"I love you," Shiro says into Keith's warm, sweet neck, where his face is buried. "I love you."

Keith is crying in earnest now, hands fisted in the back of Shiro's jacket. His legs come up and wrap tightly around Shiro's hips- he hefts him up closer so they can be more comfortably around his waist. He's holding Keith as close and tight as he possibly can, and it's the best thing he's ever felt. All that matters in the world is Keith, right here in his arms. 

"Are you sure?" Shiro has to murmur. If Keith took it back all of a sudden, Shiro would shatter like glass right here and now, but he has to ask. "You're not even nineteen, Keith-"   
  
"Hey." Keith huffs a laugh.  _ "You _ asked. If you really thought I was too young, you shouldn't have, because there's no backing out of this now."

Shiro hugs him even tighter. "Thank god," he says. "The feeling is mutual. I'm never letting you go."

"Good." Keith's arms tighten around his neck and it's Shiro's turn to laugh. 

"I didn't mean literally, baby. I'll have to put you down eventually."

"Nuh uh," Keith mumbles. "Just look at those beefy arms. You could definitely hold me up like this forever."

"What if I need my hands for something?" Not that Shiro can actually think of anything that might be more important than holding Keith.

"We'll ask Matt to do it."

Shiro laughs again. "He's not quite as weak to your eyes as I am, baby."

_ "No one's _ as weak as you are." Keith lifts his head to look at him with the big gorgeous eyes in question, from under his long curling eyelashes. Shiro swallows. 

"Yeah, that's...that is factual."

Keith grins, and leans in to kiss him.  _ Finally. _ Shiro kisses back hungrily, and somehow manages to hold Keith even tighter. Hopefully he'll speak up before Shiro cracks one of his ribs because otherwise there's no way he's letting go. And that's just with his physical arms. Emotionally, there's nothing he'll be willing to let go for. He's going to hold on to Keith, no matter what, forever. And now there's a ring on Keith's finger to prove that. 

He has to look at it again. "Show me your hand, baby," he murmurs. 

"This one?" Keith offers his right- he's removed the glove from that one too- with a cheeky smile. 

"Yes," Shiro says. He grabs it and presses a kiss to the palm, making Keith giggle, his cheeks flushing from sheer joy. "Baby," he says again, "I'd put a ring on every one of your fingers if I could. But right now it's just the one."

"Oh yeah, you meant this," Keith mumbles, clinging to the vestiges of his teasing bravado, even as he's overwhelmed by the reality of his new ring, and by Shiro's devotion- one of his favorite things to do to Keith. 

Grabbing onto the front of Shiro's jacket with his right hand to maintain balance- Shiro's arms are starting to ache, but he'd still die before dropping Keith- Keith holds up his left, back of it facing Shiro. 

The ring gleams in the desert sunlight, and Shiro's heart skips a beat. "Looks good," he croaks. 

"I'd say so, yeah." Keith's laugh is wet again as the tears return. It's Shiro's turn to kiss him, long and deep. They're  _ engaged.  _ And in four and a half months, when Shiro returns from Kerberos, they'll get married, and Keith will be his forever. 

He was already Keith's, ring or no ring. But Shiro knows that this will help Keith finally believe that. 

**Author's Note:**

> me: keith "gets married at age 19 bc why tf not" kogane  
> space: keith "actually, technically, becomes a widower at age 19" kogane  
> me: you bastard
> 
> I wrote this entire fic for the sake of Keith saying "Put the ring on my finger, Takashi" instead of a normal yes. Come talk to me about Sheith on [my tumblr](http://tarvek-sturmvoraus.tumblr.com/) \- send me a prompt and maybe I'll write it instead of paying attention in class.


End file.
